Switzerland’s longest dam was opened last week. In addition to being Switzerland’s longest it is also Europe’s highest. Situated in the Alpine region of the canton of Glarus the dam is only the tip of a technological iceberg, the visible part of a vast network of tunnels, pumps and underground turbines. The video below shows […]
Swiss to vote on a plan to cut ecological footprint by two thirds
On 25 September 2016, the Swiss electorate will vote on the ‘Green Economy’ initiative, the work of the Green party. Switzerland’s per capita consumption of the earth is far from sustainable. The Green party says three earths would be required if everyone on the planet consumed natural resources, such as water, air, soil or raw materials, […]
Swiss startup doubles solar panel efficiency
Because roof space is limited, the amount of the sun’s energy that can be extracted per square metre matters. Plants typically extract 5% of the sun’s energy, and most roof solar panels on the market extract between 14% and 22%, although figures vary. Last October, the website Mashable reported that SolarCity, whose chairman is Elon Musk, had […]
Switzerland’s summer to continue until mid next week
20 Minutes. Summer temperatures are set to continue in Switzerland. Today the temperature in Locarno in Ticino reached 30 degrees. Roger Perret from Meteonews said “It is extraordinarily hot for this time of the year.” Summer weather conditions look set to prevail across nearly all of Switzerland for most of next week. Meteonews, Meteoblue and Meteo Swiss all […]
Switzerland’s new Gotthard train tunnel might be too small
20 Minutes. The new Gotthard train tunnel, which opened on 1 June 2016, might have a serious design flaw. Next December, Swiss Rail plans to start running high speed trains through the tunnel. The planned speed of these trains is 200 km/h. There are now fears that the tunnel is too tight to run trains this fast. As […]
Despite the exposure to seismic risk, few Swiss homeowners take out earthquake insurance
According to reinsurer, Swiss Re, over three quarters of private buildings in Switzerland have no earthquake coverage. Because earthquakes are rare and are quickly forgotten, public risk perception is low. Even Switzerland, with its well developed insurance culture is no exception. Swiss Re describes Switzerland as a country with a medium seismic hazard. The strongest […]
Earthquake risk in Switzerland is real says geologist
24 Heures. After the tragic earthquake in Italy, some are wondering if something similar could happen in Switzerland. Speaking to the newspaper 24 Heures, geologist Raphaël Mayoraz, says “People tend to forget, but our country has already experienced earthquakes of 6 or more.” The Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich completed ten years of […]
Solar powered tuk tuk stops in Switzerland on its way from India to London
On 21 February 2016, after spending his life’s savings creating a solar powered tuk tuk, 35 year-old electrical engineer, Naveen Rabelli, set off to London from Bangalore, India in his creation, with Austrian film maker Raoul Kopacka. The pair want to prove that being good to the planet is a state of mind and something […]
Get ready for a spectacular night sky light show
20 Minutes. Every year the prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle puts on a light show. The show’s climax occurs at the end of this week at around 1:30 am on Friday morning, when 200 to 300 lights will cross the sky within an hour. The name, Perseides, comes from a term found […]
Swiss solar plane completes 43,000 km round-the-world flight
Early this morning, the solar powered plane, Solar Impulse II, piloted by Bertrand Piccard, landed in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, completing a full circuit of the globe. The aircraft’s 17-leg journey involved 23 days of flying, covering a distance of 43,041 kilometres. Piccard took off from Egypt and arrived in Abu Dhabi […]
